Andie Chen & Kate Pang Are Now In A Long Distance Marriage, So Who Do Their Kids Miss More?

“My son has been learning all the wrong things!” exclaims Andie Chen, 33, when we meet him at the press conference for new Ch 8 drama Walk With Me. Wait, what? Isn’t Andie’s five-year-old son, Aden, like a whiz kid in the making? After all, he picked up his first belt in Kali Majapahit, a Filipino martial art, just last November.

Maybe Andie and his wife of five years, Taiwanese actress-host Kate Pang, 35, are your typical Asian parents, you know, the kind that doesn’t lavish praise on their kids easily. When we ask Andie about how his two-year-old daughter, Avery, measures up to her older brother, he chirps, “She can swim!” But there’s no doubt Andie and Kate are mighty proud of their brood and the many loving family photos on their Instagram are an indication of that.

However, the actor, who’s now a self-managed artiste, isn’t looking to expand his family anytime soon. Though we think he might change his mind after Walk With Me, where he plays a selfish and debt-ridden troublemaker who learns about responsibility after his sister (Fann Wong) takes in five troubled teens. Okay, maybe not.

PHOTOS: KEVIN LAU

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The family on holiday in Australia

While it may seem like life is as sweet as candy for the Kandie family, Andie, who is one of the most candid and honest stars around, lets on that because of the kids, Kate now showers him with less attention, which has led to arguments between the couple. He also tells us that their relationship is now long-distance and that they shuttle between Singapore and Taiwan, where Kate is taking a course on Early Childhood (but more on this later).

Here, we chat with the actor, who is currently busy filming upcoming martial arts drama The Good Fight, about life, wife and his fear of having a dad bod.

8 DAYS: How has your relationship with Kate changed since having two kids?Andie Chen: Wah, drastically! (Laughs) When we first got together, we knew we wanted a family already. The change is that the focus shifted a lot from ourselves to the kids. For me, I used to be someone who wants to spend 24 hours with my partner and worship [her]. I fell into that with Kate as well, but with the kids now, she gives me less attention and we got into a lot of fights. We were stretched very thin financially and emotionally. I would say that last year was a tough year for us. But we found our balance a few months back and now we’re at a pretty good place. Hopefully it stays that way. (Laughs)

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Shhh... Dating in progress.

Do the two of you still go out on dates alone?We do, but we need to schedule time for dates. Sometimes we would go for a staycation, and just recently, we went to Phuket. We will try to make time for ourselves but even so, those times are few and far between. We try to date once a week but it’s not always possible.

And who takes care of your kids when you guys are paktor-ing? We’re lucky enough that our parents are still around. My parents would help out! (Laughs)

How do you think Aden and Avery behave when you guys are not home? They bully the grandparents because, you know, they love them to bits. (Laughs) Kate is in Taiwan most of the time these days. So Aden is spending a lot of time with his grandparents because I am working. I can tell he is bullying them more and more! (Laughs)

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Boys night out!

Recently, you uploaded an Instagram post saying that you and your son had a "boys night out". Do you and Kate take the kids out separately?Sometimes, yes! Now that Kate is studying Early Childhood in Taiwan, she has brought one kid along with her. She can’t handle both of them herself. And so the kids take turns on who follows her back.

How long will Kate be gone for?The course doesn't have a specific time period and it depends on how fast she wants to take it. So she can be gone for months, weeks, or days. She’ll also be away for Chinese New Year.

'Cos your kids don't get to see both of you all the time now, who do you think they miss most? They miss mummy the most, I think. But it’s not like they’re crying in sorrow, so it’s all good. (Laughs)

Do you think that there are any benefits to being in a long-distance relationship?There are no plus points for that! (Laughs) I’d rather my whole family be around. (Laughs)

So what do you and your kids get up to when it's just you and them? I personally like to bring them to play sports, or do any type of physical activity because I feel that [there is not much] of it in school. I love sports and I want my kids to do sports too so I am more focused on that. (Laughs) Sometimes I’d bring them to the playground, swimming… But recently I’m planning to bring them out for physical training because Aden is old enough to do that.

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Andie and Avery

What about Avery?She still can run around, and she can swim!

And where does Kate take them?They watch plays, or go listen to the orchestra and other music performances. I think she cares about that a lot, so she usually brings them there.

Wow. How do you make sure they don't fidget around when watching the plays?We bring them to age-appropriate musicals and the ones we bring them to lasts only 20 - 30 minutes. Avery has a knack for music and watching shows so we can actually stay there for an hour!

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Kate and Aden

So what are Aden's current interests? I’m observing that Aden has a lot of energy, too much in fact. I think he is physically quite gifted as well, because he’s very flexible and agile. He also has been learning the abacus. We thought that he was gonna hate it, because I hate it. But he loves it! To bits!(Laughs) It’s like he would actually sit down for 90 minutes in class to learn it and he wants to do the homework. I’m like -

Ew!Yes, exactly! Like, ew, what?! What are you talking about? (Laughs) But he loves it. I mean, I’m glad he likes it.

Are you the type of parent who packs their kids' schedule with enrichment classes?Everything non-academic, yes. I want them to explore! Because Kate is studying early childhood, she’s trying to understand our children more and from there we’ll decide the kind of activities that they should engage in that’ll be advantageous for them.

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Aden with his Kali Majapahit cert

What are some of the classes Aden goesd to? He has swimming lessons, because he seems to love it and he’s really quite good at it. He also used to take martial arts classes but he stopped because he’s getting too strong. He’s always punching and kicking forcefully, which is not good for a four-year-old, so we stopped. In school he does speech and drama, but externally it’s just these few classes.

Is there anything Aden's not good at?He doesn’t hold a tune very well. (Laughs) For me, I couldn’t sing for nuts as well until I did my musical, December Rains. I recently just heard my mother teaching him how to sing, and I was like, "Oh! So that’s where [his tone deafness is] from!" (Laughs) Oh my God, my son has been learning all the wrong things! (Laughs)

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Daddy issues

Are you afraid of getting a dad bod? Of course! One of the reasons why I’m working out so hard is because I have a dad bod! I used to be much fitter. These few years after I had Aden and Avery, I definitely let myself go a lot. In my mind, I’m still very fit. When I look at pictures, I’m like, "What the... that’s not me! (Laughs) I’m never gonna let myself slip back to that! (Laughs)

What are your body goals?My long term goal is to be strong, mobile and athletic to take on any challenges that come to me as an actor. I’m not looking to be Arnold Schwarzenegger. I’m looking to have health, muscle and strength to be allow me to do things. And having a nice body is always good as well. (Laughs) Initially Kate keeps saying that she doesn’t care [how my body looks like]. But I can tell she likes it! (Laughs) She’ll be like, “Ooh! Not bad ah!” (Laughs)